Improvement in dress-shields



G. WQWOOD.

Dress-Shield. 4 No. 205,024.. Patented June 18,1878,

7 D I f 7 02M I @12 1.

WWM I ILPEIERS FHOTD-UTHDGRAFHER, WASHINGTON, D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT ()EEroE.

GEORGE W. WOOD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.; HETTY WOOD, (ADMINISTRATRIX OF GEORGE W'. WOOD, DEGEASED,) ASSIGNOR TO MARK M. STANFIELD,

OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN DRESS-SHIELDS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 205,024, dated June 18,1878 application filed November 19, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. W001 of the city and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Seamless Shields for Garments, of which the following is a specification:

Dress-shields have heretofore been made of india-rubber cloth, cut out into crescent shapes and united at the inner edges, so as to beadapted to form a lining at the under part of the arm-hole of the dress. These, however, are liable to come apart at the seam, or the perspiration to follow along the fibrous substance and through the lap of the seam. Be-

sides this the shield is heavy, stiff, and cumbersome.

My invention is made for lessening the weight and thickness of the shield, avoiding a seam, and rendering the shield light and elastic, so that it is adapted to the various shapes and sizes of arm-holes, and may be used at other portions of garments, such as a lining between the legs of pantaloons, &c.

I make use of thin elastic webbing known as stockinet, instead of the muslin heretofore employed, and I coat the same on one side with a thin layer of crude india-rubber. The material is then cut out into pieces of the proper size, preferably square, and stretched upon a form of the shape required in making the complete shield.

In Figure 1 Ihave shown said form by a side view, and in Fig. 2 by a section.

This form is preferably of sheet metal, with a concave edge, a, that is thickened by bending over the edge of the sheet metal, so as to prevent injury to the fabric. There are also catch pins or points b 1) around the convex edge of the form.

The operator applies the piece of stockinet, coated with crude india-ru'bber, to this form in such a manner that it passes over the edge a and extends at both sides of the form, and

I it is hooked from both sides upon the pins 1),

so that the india-rubber fabric is held in the position shown in Fig. 3, the material conforming to the shape of the curved edge a and bein g double, the form intervening. In this condition the india-rubber is cured or vulcanized by heat, and retains its shape thereafter. After unhooking the edges of the fabric from the hooks b the shield is to be trimmed at the edges and it is ready for use. Fig. 4 illustrates this shield.

It will be understood that the shield may be applied with either the rubber or the stockinet side next to the garment, and that the knitted fabric allows the shield to be slightly stretched in either direction, so as to conform to the garment, and it will also stretch when in use, so

as to allow for the movement of the arms or body.

I claim as my invention 1. A shield for garments made of one piece of stockinet coated with rubber, of a crescent form and without seam, as a new article of manufacture.

2. The method herein specified of manufacturing shields for garments, consisting in stretching a single flat piece of india-rubbercoated stockinet over a form to the shape of the finished article, securing the edges of such material, and then vulcanizing the india-rubber, substantially as set forth.

3. The form for garment-shields, made of sheet metal, with a concave edge, a, and points b, to retain the stockinetmaterial while being vulcanized or cured, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 14th day of November, A. D. 1877.

GEORGE W. WOOD.

Witnesses GEo. T. PINGKNEY, WILLIAM G. MoTT. 

